


Brave

by flowerfan



Series: Glee Season 2 Reaction Fics [9]
Category: Glee
Genre: 2x20, Anxiety, Homophobia, M/M, Prom Queen, bashing, reaction fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-27
Updated: 2014-07-27
Packaged: 2018-02-10 17:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2032845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerfan/pseuds/flowerfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>2x20 reaction fic.  Kurt and Blaine made it through Kurt's junior prom to the after party, but Kurt could tell that something wasn't right.</p><p>Part of a series of Season 2 reaction fics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brave

As the junior prom drew to a close, Rachel and Mercedes found Blaine and Kurt, and shepherded them out of the gym to where the rest of the New Directions were waiting. They were all headed to Kurt's house for an after party, and although some of them felt a bit worse for wear, they all perked up when they saw the giant stretch limo waiting for them in the McKinley parking lot.

"Kurt!" Blaine exclaimed. "You didn't tell me about this." His caramel eyes were sparkling, and Kurt knew he was grinning back at him like a loon.

"Do you like it?" Kurt and Finn had arranged for the limo to take everyone back to their house. It had actually been Finn's idea - after hearing about Blaine's Sadie Hawkins experience, he thought Blaine might appreciate a "more awesome" ending to the evening to replace the memory of how badly his last school dance had ended.

"I love it," Blaine responded, giving Kurt's hand a quick squeeze. 

Finn gave Kurt a high five as they climbed into the limo. Although Finn got kicked out of prom before it was over, Coach Sue hadn't bothered to call his mom or even watch to see if he left school property, so Finn had just hung around outside until the limo showed up.

Kurt didn’t mind a bit when he was forced to press tightly against Blaine as Tina and Mike slid in next to them. Blaine was a little sweaty, and his hair was breaking free of the gel, but Kurt thought he looked even more dreamy this way. While he admitted his bias, he was pretty sure it didn’t matter a bit. He and Blaine had made it through prom, had shown the school that what they had couldn’t be touched by intolerance, and Kurt thought he had never been happier.

Burt and Carole greeted everyone when they arrived, gave a thoroughly embarrassing talk about how they would be right upstairs the whole time and there was to be no alcohol or "funny business" of any kind, and then left them to devour the trays of dumplings and various snacks Mike's mom had brought over earlier. Rachel's dads had dropped off her karaoke machine, and Rachel was generously allowing her friends to use it, with the caveat that she had to be invited to join in all group numbers.

After a while, Kurt was starting to get tired, the events of the evening finally catching up with him. He headed into the kitchen to get himself another Diet Coke and overheard Tina talking to Blaine. She was trying to get Blaine to do a reprise of "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You," but Blaine declined, claiming his throat was sore from all the shouting at the dance. Kurt thought that was unlikely, as he hadn't heard Blaine shout at all, apart from a few moderately loud cheers; in fact, Blaine was always careful not to abuse his voice that way. Kurt caught Blaine's eye and tilted his head towards the couch, and they made their way over, Kurt carefully placing his soda on the coffee table before sitting down next to Blaine. His boyfriend seemed tense, still wearing his suit jacket, arms crossed around his waist. It reminded Kurt of how he looked sitting right here just a few days ago, when Blaine had been worried about Kurt wearing his kilt to prom.

"Want me to make you some tea?" Kurt asked, trying to not to laugh at the baffled look Blaine gave him in return. "You know, for your throat?"

Blaine grimaced, looking down at his lap. "No thanks."

"Why didn't you want to sing?" Kurt placed a hand lightly on Blaine's knee, wanting so much to touch him but not sure what would be okay.

"I don't know."

Kurt huffed and bumped his shoulder against Blaine's. Was he worried about what had happened at Rachel’s party? Because he was so over that. "Really?"

Blaine squirmed, crossing his legs. "It's nothing."

Kurt considered Blaine's stiff posture and shaky voice. They had spent the last part of prom happily dancing together, goofing around with their friends and taking silly pictures, and now Blaine seemed so different. What had happened?

"Blaine, I'm okay, you know. I mean, the whole prom queen thing sucked, but I think the way we handled it is going to make a great story someday, once I get past the utter humiliation of it all."

Blaine nodded, giving Kurt a small smile. "I know. You're so brave, Kurt."

Kurt studied him, wishing he could read his mind. This wasn’t his usual joyful Blaine. "Please, Blaine, tell me what's wrong?" Blaine's gaze was back down on his lap, and he was holding himself even tighter. Kurt reached over to put an arm over Blaine's shoulders but froze when Blaine flinched, eyes quickly darting around the room, and then up at Kurt.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..." Blaine trailed off, blinking at Kurt helplessly, his hands clutching at his sides.

Kurt pushed away the flash of hurt he felt when Blaine pulled away from his touch, starting to get an idea about what might be going on.

He stood up, staying close to Blaine, but not touching him. "Come to my room?"

Blaine trailed after him, and Kurt stepped aside to let him in, closing the door most of the way behind them. Kurt figured that while this wasn't likely to fit his father's definition of "funny business," he didn't want to take any chances. 

Blaine had perched himself on the edge of Kurt's bed, but Kurt crawled up and sat against the pillows, motioning for Blaine to do the same. When Blaine joined him Kurt caught his eye, waited until Blaine was really looking at him, then gently took his hand and lay his head on Blaine's shoulder. He was relieved when Blaine relaxed against him, resting his cheek on Kurt's head. Kurt didn't even care about how his hair was going to look now, he was just glad Blaine was letting them touch again. They sat there quietly for a few minutes, pressed together from head to hip, until Blaine spoke.

"Thank you."

Blaine didn't specify for what, but that was fine with Kurt. "It's okay. The New Directions can be a lot to take. Sometimes you just need to take a break."

"You know that's not it," Blaine said softly. 

"You don't have to talk about it." Kurt shifted so he could see Blaine's face. He looked better now, the color back in his cheeks, the panicked look in his eyes replaced with something calmer, if a little sad.

"I didn't want it to still bother me. I thought I could just push past it. You were so excited about your prom, I wanted it to be the best night you ever had. I thought if I could just concentrate on that, I'd be fine."

Kurt turned, reaching until he was holding both of Blaine's hands in his. "But the bad memories are still there."

"Yeah." Blaine sighed. "I used to have these horrible nightmares about the attack. And sometimes that same feeling would hit me even when I was awake, that feeling you get right when you wake up from a nightmare, you know? When you think it's still real, and you have to convince yourself that no, you're awake, it was just a dream. But it still hurts?"

Kurt nodded, scooting closer to Blaine, his knees knocking against Blaine's thigh. "Did you feel that way tonight?"

Blaine pressed his lips together and squeezed his eyes closed. "A little. Even thought we were already here, safe, I just couldn't push it away any more. It was like an echo, an echo of how it felt when the baseball bat hit my ribs, when Jamie screamed and screamed." Blaine's sucked in a halting breath, and Kurt wrapped his arms around him. Blaine latched on to Kurt in return, and he hung on tight, taking shaking breaths while Kurt rubbed his back.

"I'm sorry, Blaine. I shouldn't have made you go."

Blaine pulled back, seeming to have found some energy somewhere. "No, no, that's not the point at all. I'm sorry I freaked out, but it was good, right? Parts of it, at least?"

"Well, maybe," Kurt drawled, tentatively looking up at Blaine through his lashes, and letting his voice sink down a little. "There may have been one unbelievable, fairy tale perfect moment, when this handsome prince asked me to dance..."

He thrilled to see Blaine respond, Kurt's sexy face apparently having improved now that he actually had someone to feel sexy with. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. In front of the whole school. He was so brave, and he made me so happy." Kurt realized he had just inadvertently switched from sexy to sappy, but he didn't care. The elated look on Blaine's face was worth it.

"Kurt," Blaine breathed out, surging forward and pressing a hard kiss to Kurt's lips. Kurt enthusiastically returned the kiss, one hand going to Blaine's arm and the other coming up to cup his cheek. Well, they were now firmly into the realm of funny business, Kurt thought, but he didn't care. His dad could grump at him all he wanted, but this? This feeling he shared with Blaine, trust and caring and, yes, _don't-think-to-hard-about-it- love,_ it was definitely worth it.


End file.
